'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend' Recasts Original Character for Final Season

11:11 AM PDT 8/6/2018
by
Michael O'Connell

"Greg" will be back for the final season, though not played by Santino Fontana.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is bringing back an original character not seen since its second season, though he'll be played by a different actor. The creative team behind the CW's soon-to-end musical comedy announced Monday that Pitch Perfect actor Skylar Astin will be stepping into the role of Greg.

The character, first played by Santino Fontana, was essentially the co-lead until the top of the second season. Greg was written off when New York-based Fontana asked to be let off of the show. He hasn't appeared since 2016.

"When he decided that this show didn't work for his schedule, we took that Greg storyline and moved it all up," co-creator and showrunner Aline Brosh McKenna told press at the Television Critics Association press tour, coming just shy of saying whether or not they'd asked Fontana if he'd return. "In thinking about bringing him back, we reached out to let him know we were doing that."

The switch to Astin, according to co-creator and star Rachel Bloom, is something that will not be glossed over on the show.

"We don't want to spoil it too much," said Bloom. "It will be a great statement on how our perception of people changes. Greg is a barometer of how people's perceptions changes. It'll have been two years since Rebecca's seen him."

Both Bloom and Brosh McKenna implied that the series will be a bit lighter in its final season, the central character now working through her borderline personality disorder. "The back half of this season deals a lot with her romantic life, once we've landed and settled some of her issues," noted Bloom.

How it all comes together, both women insisted, is still the same as when they originally went around Hollywood pitching their four-season plan — one that was first developed for Showtime.

"There are executives around town who know how our series ends," joked Bloom, "if they remember it or care."